Marcus Mariota

Too many people looking for garbage along the path of least resistance.

I like Mariota as a bridge guy if we also draft someone. I'd certainly prefer getting Mariota for a 4th on his one year $9m contract, then having to overpay in free agency for someone. I don't see anyone in free agency who is definitively better than Mariota. The reality here seems to be we have 4 options:

1. Trade for a legitimate starting but probably just above average QB e.g. Jimmy G, Wentz etc (I don't see Watson as a legitimate option)
2. Trade up to the top 5 for a QB in the draft - really seems unlikely at this point. Too many other teams with needs or with an easier way to get there
3. Sign a free agent e.g. Cam, Fitzpatrick, Brissett, and draft Mac Jones or someone lower in the draft e.g. Cam, Fitzpatrick, Brissett.
4. Trade for a backup somewhere and draft someone. e.g. Mariota

My first choice option is to see if we could get Trey Lance at 7 or 8 in the draft with a trade up. Second choice is to find a way to get Jimmy G back. Third choice is to find a cheap bridge guy and look to more realistic options in the draft.

lancerman said:

Too many people looking for garbage along the path of least resistance.

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We don't have many options as a bridge QB

lancerman said:

Too many people looking for garbage along the path of least resistance.

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Cousin , Too many holes to fill. Can't see a big money QB and a Rookie QB is not leading us to play-offs. You will have a mid pack QB like Kyle Allen or Gardner Menshew ....originally thought Trubisky but he has three suitors in FA.
Bill is going to have to buy at least "B" talent on Offense and Defense.
DW Toys

Mariota is excellent as a cheap rehabilitation project and/or backup option with upside. He shouldn't be hyped up as anything beyond that though.

He has good physical traits and is by all accounts a hard worker who gets along with his teammates. He has regularly missed small amounts of time with random injuries, nothing on the level of Garoppolo but not exactly an iron man either.

As a player he was in that weird twilight zone like Tannehill was in Miami (before he went to Tennessee and took Mariota's job, ironically) of not being an outright bum, but not being able to quite put it all together either. I always found him a weird guy to watch because he didn't seem to have any glaring faults and could bust out the genuinely impressive play, but always seemed to be snakebit.

Have the Pats given up on Stidham?

First Pick 6 killed him. Never be the same.
DW Toys

zimmy said:

I like Mariota as a bridge guy if we also draft someone. I'd certainly prefer getting Mariota for a 4th on his one year $9m contract, then having to overpay in free agency for someone. I don't see anyone in free agency who is definitively better than Mariota. The reality here seems to be we have 4 options:

1. Trade for a legitimate starting but probably just above average QB e.g. Jimmy G, Wentz etc (I don't see Watson as a legitimate option)
2. Trade up to the top 5 for a QB in the draft - really seems unlikely at this point. Too many other teams with needs or with an easier way to get there
3. Sign a free agent e.g. Cam, Fitzpatrick, Brissett, and draft Mac Jones or someone lower in the draft e.g. Cam, Fitzpatrick, Brissett.
4. Trade for a backup somewhere and draft someone. e.g. Mariota

My first choice option is to see if we could get Trey Lance at 7 or 8 in the draft with a trade up. Second choice is to find a way to get Jimmy G back. Third choice is to find a cheap bridge guy and look to more realistic options in the draft.

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Sorry, but you made me literally lol. You state Watson is not a legitimate option, which I agree 100%, but then you list Wentz. The whole reason the Eagles let Doug Pederson go was because they chose Wentz over him. Nick Sirianni was brought on to fix Wentz, not trade him and his cap hit of $34,673,536 and a dead cap value of $59,220,614.

Draft Mac Jones at 15. Draft Pat Freiermuth at 47. Trade Gilmore for a 2 or 3. Fill a hole with that. Get Fitzpatrick, Mariota, or Winston for a year or 2 and find a #1 WR. Odell might come cheap. We don't need to win now. We can't win now. Rebuild the roster in 3 years.

As @DW Toys pointed out, Mariota's contract makes it likely he will be cut. The Raiders gave him a solid contract for a backup, with one year to decide whether they would continue with Derek Carr or give Mariota a chance to start.

In 2021 Mariota will earn a base salary of $10,625,000 and a workout bonus of $100,000, while carrying a cap hit of $10,725,000. That's the most money and cap allotment of any backup QB in the NFL. The Raiders are already allotting more than 12% of their cap space to Carr and are $21 million over the cap. I doubt they keep him, and his contract makes his trade value null.

He could provide value to the Patriots as a backup, or as a bridge if the Pats are unable to draft a worthwhile QB in the first round (though we all would rather not wait another year to draft a long term starting QB). However, it would have to be at a lower cap number. To me he's not worth trading anything of value for, and it would need to be something similar to what Andy Dalton signed last year ($3 million).

Signing Marcus would seriously depress me. He has the physical tools, but has no heart. I think he'd make a quality backup, definitely better than Stidham, but he would be expensive.

My problem with Marcus is I fear he would be just good enough that our qb position never improves. I prefer to swing for the fences. Fitz has higher upside. I think I may even prefer Cam STILL over Marcus.

RIpats88 said:

We don't have many options as a bridge QB

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Why are we looking for a bridge QB. Cam was a bridge QB. We should be looking for the next guy in the draft. We have no idea what are situation will be next year

1960Pats said:

Have the Pats given up on Stidham?

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I'm kinda getting that vibe...

Forget doghouse......I really think that pic w him in the throne and the gold football earned him a permanent home in the BB Gulag.

jmt57 said:

As @DW Toys pointed out, Mariota's contract makes it likely he will be cut. The Raiders gave him a solid contract for a backup, with one year to decide whether they would continue with Derek Carr or give Mariota a chance to start.

In 2021 Mariota will earn a base salary of $10,625,000 and a workout bonus of $100,000, while carrying a cap hit of $10,725,000. That's the most money and cap allotment of any backup QB in the NFL. The Raiders are already allotting more than 12% of their cap space to Carr and are $21 million over the cap. I doubt they keep him, and his contract makes his trade value null.

He could provide value to the Patriots as a backup, or as a bridge if the Pats are unable to draft a worthwhile QB in the first round (though we all would rather not wait another year to draft a long term starting QB). However, it would have to be at a lower cap number. To me he's not worth trading anything of value for, and it would need to be something similar to what Andy Dalton signed last year ($3 million).

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Just an aside. Jacoby Brissett got $15M in 2020 (6.5M salary, 7M SB, 2M Game Bonus). Someone else said $28M , but that wasn't correct since 13M of it was in Signing bonus and Game Bonus in 2019.

doesntmatter1 said:

Signing Marcus would seriously depress me. He has the physical tools, but has no heart. I think he'd make a quality backup, definitely better than Stidham, but he would be expensive.

My problem with Marcus is I fear he would be just good enough that our qb position never improves. I prefer to swing for the fences. Fitz has higher upside. I think I may even prefer Cam STILL over Marcus.

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Mariota just doesn't do it for me. I'm not sure why it clicked with the Raiders buy he got beat out while with the Titans.

Rather look at Brissett or Carr or some other option.

DaBruinz said:

Mariota just doesn't do it for me. I'm not sure why it clicked with the Raiders buy he got beat out while with the Titans.

Rather look at Brissett or Carr or some other option.

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My order of Vets
Watson
Jimmy G
Mariota
Wentz
Carr

DaBruinz said:

Mariota just doesn't do it for me. I'm not sure why it clicked with the Raiders buy he got beat out while with the Titans.

Rather look at Brissett or Carr or some other option.

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Pretty much this. We need a somewhat accurate QB.

lancerman said:

Brissett is just a more expensive Cam at this point.

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Not quite. Brissett still has mid range accuracy. He can't throw it downfield with any accuracy but he can hit a target in the all important 15-25 yard range without getting picked off. Cam couldn't even do that.

From Brady to minshew or trubisky or mariota.. how times have changed...

It's like swapping amazon stock for gamestock..

ToonPatriot said:

If we're going down another stopgap route Brissett would be top of my list. I'm surprised he isn't mentioned more but I'm assuming that's cause we can't just sign him as a FA can we? We'd need to compensate the Colts? Or have I got that wrong..

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He's a UFA, And one of the more cost effective options out there all things considered.

people don't want him because quite frankly no one wants to admit that he's one of the better options.

brissett's style is unpopular exactly for the reasons I described. He's a game manager whose job is to throw just enough to set up the run and put up enough points to allow the defense to win the game. He's one of the smarter, bolder, tougher examples of the breed, but that's still what he is. A QB who can take a defensive team as far as its lack of defensive mistakes allows.

In other words, a QB who plays directly into the remaining strengths we have as a franchise -- Belichick and the defense. And offensively, our run game is light years ahead of our pass game too. A high level game manager is a good fit for what we are.

Which is exactly how the Patriots dynasty got started, when Brady was a rookie he played that style and scored enough points to allow Belichick's D to carry the team. But it's been so long since Brady grew out of that phase that people have forgotten, and everyone would rather have a big arm instead, so the lesser arm, no matter how fundamentally sound, is not preferred.